A LEADING cancer specialist believes one in every 20 patients he treated as a consultant at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital was a health tourist.

Dr Meirion Thomas said the number of health tourists was “grossly underrated” and estimated the true cost of ineligible foreign patients using the NHS to be £2 billion a year.

The Government is hoping to recoup £500million a year by introducing new measures next month that will require payment up front for those not eligible for free non-emergency care, such as a hip or cataract operation.

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But Dr Thomas, former lead surgeon at the Royal Marsden, said not only was this only a quarter of the full cost, but that hospitals were unprepared to implement the new scheme.

He said the new measures would fail as most hospitals do not have dedicated and properly trained staff to identify ineligible patients.

Dr Thomas said: “Most hospitals either have no or an inadequate number of properly trained overseas visitor officers, whose job it is to identify ineligible patients. Also, health tourists come for complex treatments.”

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Dr Meirion Thomas said the number of health tourists cost the NHS £2bn a year

He added: “Cost and duration of treatment is unknown when they arrive.

“Therefore, up-front charging will only cover costs if refundable deposits of £50-150,000 are routinely requested.”

In a pilot scheme, 20 hospital trusts recently introduced new rules for overseas patients, with requirements to produce a passport and utility bill to help officials establish entitlement.

Maternity care is one of the most common and most costly types of health tourism.